NASA's pick of LHS class carries weight

Things are different away from Earth, in places without gravity, Lubbock High School students are learning from people who know - NASA astronauts.

NASA chose an experiment designed by the school's astronomy class to be conducted in 2008 aboard its "Weightless Wonder, " an aircraft that simulates low gravity.

Marlene Hartz / Staff

Order a print

The astronomy class - one of 10 chosen by NASA, according to astronomy teacher Bradley Neu - wants to see how crystals grow in low gravity.

Said astronomy student Stephen Puente, 17, "We think they will grow faster and without defects."

He and 15 of his classmates participated Monday in a teleconference with NASA educator Erin McKinley. A class from Carlisle, Pa., picked by NASA to study the effect of low-gravity on soil, also participated.

"You are all very lucky to have been chosen ...," McKinley told the students, later quizzing them on Isaac Newton and the laws of motion.

The students will participate in a few more teleconferences, they said, before Neu and science teachers Chad Haskins and Joy Buchok conduct the crystal experiment on NASA's "Weightless Wonder."

The aircraft will fly from NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston over the Gulf of Mexico in mid-March. Neu said his flight will last about two hours.

"We feel like we already won ... It's a prize to get singled out," Puente said. "We didn't expect to get this far."

Earlier this year, three of Neu's students - not part of the astronomy class - traveled to Florida to watch the launch of space shuttle Discovery. They won a contest to name the Node 2 module carried on the shuttle.

Neu is a member of a NASA association of teachers and once had dreams of becoming an astronaut, he said.

"The kids have an interest (in NASA)," Neu said.

"It's not just another scenario. It's hands-on ... The main thing is getting kids involved (in learning)," he said.